Huo Yuan Jia (1869-1910)
was not only a renowned martial artists, but is also one of China's national
heroes. He was born during the last days of the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911) in
Tianjin, a member of a martial arts family. The Huo family was most known for
their Mi Zong Quan (Confusion Fist). This style of martial arts depends upon
quick movements and complex footwork, frequently involves fast movements to get
to the back side of the opponent, and was thus called Mi Zong Quan.

Huo Yuan Jia had many brothers. When he was
young, he was the weakest of all of them, and thus was told to read books and
study, not practice martial arts. He could only hide and try to learn kung fu by
secretly observing his brothers. Once, during a competition, many of the Huo
family combatants lost to a certain opponent. Huo Yuan Jia asked to join the
match. With astounding skill, he won easily. Astonished, his father decided to
teach him Mi Zong Quan, which was only taught to a select few. After much
hardship, his martial arts improved greatly. He was also very altruistic, and
gained great fame in Northern China.

At the start of the twentieth century,
China was in a state of turmoil as a result of the end of the Qing Dynasty, the
forced importation of opium by the British and invasions by the Japanese,
English, and other Europeans. The Chinese were called the "Sick Men of
Asia". Phrases such as "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed" were widely
used by the foreigners forcibly occupying territories in China. As a result, the
morale and physical health of the Chinese people was very low. The foreigners
introduced Western technology such as guns, cannons, printing machines and steam
engines. Wushu practitioners, once bodyguards for convoys of officials, were
replaced by steam trains and unskilled persons trained to use guns.
Western-trained instructors replaced famous wushu masters as the chief
instructors for the country's army. Guns replaced traditional wushu weapons.

Numerous foreign martial arts schools that
arrived in China, such as western boxing and Japanese martial arts, made the
situation worse. They challenged certain wushu schools and beat them in fights.
This was not helped by the tradition among wushu masters to teach their skills
to a few students. These students may then pass their skills to one or two
students. Wushu was therefore limited to a selected few. The skills would be
lost if the selected ones did not pass their skills down to anyone.

Saddened by this situation,
Huo went to
Shanghai and challenged all the various foreign martial arts organizations. None
were able to overcome his skills. Many of the fights, such as when Huo Yuan Jia
scared away two strongmen from Russia and England and when his pupil Liu Zhen
Sheng used Mi Zong Quan to defeat five Japanese Judo experts in a row, were told
throughout the country. Huo Yuan Jia then felt that he must do more to restore
the pride and morale of the nation. He believed that when the Chinese people are
healthy, the whole nation will become strong again. He set up a school to teach
wushu to the people of Shanghai. He named his school Jing Wu (Chin Wu). "Jing"
meaning "essence", "excellent" and "of the best
quality" and "Wu" meaning "martial art".

Sadly in August 1909, one of Huo's
opponents poisoned him to death. After a certain competition, his opponent
invited Huo Yuan Jia to a party in a sign of good will, and recommended a
Western doctor to cure his haemoptysis. Huo died a month after taking the
doctor's prescribed medication, at the age of 42. Later, his pupils took the
medicine for further examination, and found it to be poison.

Undaunted by Huo Yuan Jia's death,
all of his students kept up his spirit and continued to operate Jing Wu by
inviting famous masters from Northern China to come and continue the Jing Wu
spirit by becoming instructors. It was then that the Jing Wu Athletic
Association was set up. Later, Sun Zhong Shan (Sun Yatsen), commending Huo's
nationalistic pride, personally wrote a sign for the athletic association, with
the words, "Martial Spirit".

Huo Yuan Jia, like many other martial
artists, was also popularized in cinema. His death and the actions of his famous
pupil Chen Zhen in seeking revenge were portrayed in Bruce Lee's movie Fist of
Fury (also known as Chinese Connection), Li Lian Jie's (Jet Li's) movie Fist of
Legend, and Zhen Zi Dan's (Donnie Yen's) TV series Fist of Fury. Huo's own
feats were shown in the TV series Huo Yuan Jia, produced in the 1980s by Xu Xiao
Ming (Tsui Siu-Ming).